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Wednesday, February 12, 2025
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Rights centre urges Barrow not to seek third term

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By Omar Bah

The Edward Francis Small Centre (EFSCRJ) has urged President Adama Barrow not to seek a third term. In a recent television interview, the president disclosed his intention to contest the 2026 presidential.

In reaction, the centre founded and headed by rights campaigner Madi Jobarteh, stated: “EFSCRJ wishes to state its position that no president of the Republic of The Gambia should serve for more than ten years in office. We are therefore highly concerned that President Adama Barrow, who is on his second five-year term, has expressed his intention to seek a third term in 2026. We urge him to rather step down at the end of his ten-year tenure and ensure the conduct of free and fair elections in 2026 without him being a candidate.

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“We remind Barrow of his promises and expressed commitments since 2016 about the need for presidential term limits as a means to end self-perpetuating rule in The Gambia. Experts have observed that a prolonged presidential tenure is a recipe for weak institutions, corruption, human rights violations and impunity which trigger political fragility and national instability. These ills automatically lead to poverty, deprivation, poor and erratic delivery of basic social services and severe inequalities in society. The evidence of these facts can be found across Africa and beyond, with The Gambia itself being a classic victim of self-perpetuating rule.”

It added: “There is no presidential term limit in the 1997 Constitution. Notwithstanding, we do not think that the absence of a presidential term limit provides a justification to seek a third term. After all, Barrow and his government like all Gambians have agreed that the 1997 Constitution is a weak and undemocratic law that neither represents the full aspirations of the people of The Gambia nor offer a solid foundation for democratic governance, hence the need to replace it.

“We are even more concerned that the only justification that President Barrow could give for his third term bid is about the preservation of the life of his party and the interest of his party surrogates. We wish to remind President Barrow that as president, he is not in office to serve only his party and its few members. Rather, he has taken a solemn oath to serve the people of The Gambia.  As an organisation that upholds democratic and republican ideals, we hereby inform President Barrow and all Gambians that the EF Small Centre will campaign against a third term bid. We consider it a moral, political and legal obligation as well as a sacred and historic national duty that all Gambians should stand against a third term for any president in this country, today and in future.”

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